When Michael Locher began thinking about ways to bring The Alley’s production of The Da Vinci Code to the stage, he realized he had something of a challenge in front of him.
The play, based on the blockbuster best-selling book by Dan Brown and the wildly popular movie starring Tom Hanks, isn’t a piece that happens in one place.
It’s an adrenaline-infused ride through some of the world’s most cosmopolitan locales. Think the Louvre museum, the streets of Paris, London’s Westminster Abbey.
“ All these locations, and they aren’t just a lot of locations, they’re iconic locations,” Locher said. “They’re places people have been to on vacation. And I think that many people that come to the theater to watch The Da Vinci Code have certain expectations in mind. They aren’t just hoping to see these locations.
“They’re hoping for some spectacle, for an experience that feels kind of cinematic. It’s gotta be thrilling. On the other hand, we realized early on that it was really important for us to remember what we are. We’re a theater company, not a movie studio.”
As director of design for the company and set designer for the show, Locher knew he had his work cut out for him. He knew he couldn’t fly cameras around or zoom in on things. But he also knew that audiences would easily accept what he calls “the language of theater.” They knew they’re seeing a play on a single stage.
Locher and his team found ways to work with that.
He began by creating a black space that felt “almost limitless,” and allowed it to be the canvas upon which everything else could be.
“ Then we decided to create some really spectacular pieces of architecture,” he said. “Really spectacular objects and big pieces of scenery that are more quotations of the real places than anything else.”
Imagine paintings and picture frames, pieces of a loom, things that slide in and out of a scene, offering a representation of the action’s setting. And then imagine Locher’s anchors for the whole show.
“ These really, really massive, beautifully constructed, constructed classical arches that are meant to be recreation of the archways that make up the Grand Gallery of the Louvre.”
There are two of them, each 20 feet high, and they move about the stage, lending shape and depth to scenes.
“ They glide around the stage into all kinds of exciting configurations,” he explained. “And I have to give all the credit in the world to our technical team. They took my idea and they executed it better than I could have imagined.”
While Locher’s job is to oversee all design aspects for the theater, which he joined in 2019, sitting in on meetings to determine what a particular play might need in terms of set and lighting and other backstage magic that help bring it to life, he didn’t start out as what he calls “a theater kid.”
In fact, he didn’t find himself working in theater until college.
“I’d always been a painter, a drawer,” he said.
He knew early in his college career, though, that he didn’t have what it took to make it as what he called a gallery artist. He wanted to collaborate with people, not work alone.
“ I needed to be responding to things constantly to do my best work,” he said. “And that’s why I discovered this industry or this art form, which really was all about finding ways to join a new team and work on our new project every time.”
The Da Vinci Code is a project he thinks pushes a lot of boundaries, and demanded a lot from the design team overall, especially its climatic ending, which needed a lot of precision and imagination.
“ It’s one of the coolest things that I’ve seen a team put on stage anywhere,” he says. “I’m very proud of it. I can’t wait for more people to see it.”
The Da Vinci Code runs through Sunday, October 19, 2025.
This article was developed in partnership with Alley Theatre, allowing us to expand our coverage of the performing arts, activities and events around the Greater Houston area.